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The Wednesday Read

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. – The Declaration of Independence

Today’s topics include:

2020 Census

Tester’s Town Hall

Salute to America

FIFA Women’s World Cup

2020 Census:

Great news! Reuters is reporting that in a stinging defeat for President Donald Trump, his administration ended its effort to add a citizenship question to the 2020 U.S. census, saying that it will begin printing forms that do not include the contentious query.

I think the problem is that Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and President Donald Trump don’t really understand why we have a census. They wanted to politicize the census.

I’ve been against having a citizenship question on the 2020 Census since I first heard about Trump’s plan to ask it. We need a complete count of people living in the USA. Placing a question on the census that would prevent some people from completing the form would hinder us in obtaining a complete count.

Tester’s Town Hall:

Congratulations to U.S. Senator Jon Tester (D-MT) for holding his third “in-person” town hall meeting of the year. This one was held in Helena. (MTN)

Tester previously held town hall meetings in Missoula and Bozeman.

According to Tester’s office, the Helena town hall meeting was his 10th since President Donald Trump took office.

It’s too bad that Montana’s other two federally-elected officials, U.S. Senator Steve Daines, and U.S. Representative Greg Gianforte, don’t feel the need to meet and discuss the issues with Montanans face to face.

If they are so scared that they won’t hold in-person town hall meetings in Montana, they should look for another job where they don’t have to face people.

Salute to America:

It looks like President Trump’s July 4 “Salute to America” event in Washington, D.C., is going to be more of a campaign event for Trump than a celebration of our independence.

The Washington Post is reporting that the National Park Service is diverting nearly $2.5 million in entrance and recreation fees primarily intended to improve parks across the country to cover costs associated with President Trump’s Independence Day celebration Thursday on the Mall.

The Post and others are reporting that the White House is distributing VIP tickets to Republican donors and political appointees. This is interesting considering the event is funded by the taxpayers.

It’s too bad that some of our military personnel will have to work on the Fourth of July to satisfy Trump’s ego.

I saw that someone tweeted that probably some out of town guests are staying at Trump’s hotel, so he is making some serious coin during the event.

Someone else asked if the tanks being used for the event are American or Russian…

Major Garrett of CBS News reports about the event. It’s a must-watch segment from CBS Evening News. Watch it HERE.

FIFA Women’s World Cup:

Team USA beat England 2-1 in the semi-final match on Tuesday. The United States now awaits the winner of Netherlands/Sweden which is being played today (Wednesday) at 1:00 pm Montana time.(Fox Sports)

The United States already beat Sweden in the group round 2-0.

The World Cup final will be played on Sunday, July 7, at 9:00 am Montana time. Fox is broadcasting the match.

Go all the way, USA!

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